Royster Says Drug Testing Proposal Is ‘Crazy’

Padre infielder Jerry Royster called the proposal “crazy, and not the way to go about doing it.”

Pitcher LaMarr Hoyt called it “kind of childish to police players.”

Catcher Terry Kennedy and Pirate third baseman Bill Madlock, the respective player representatives, said, “Let’s talk baseball.”

In other words, they didn’t want to talk about baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth’s Tuesday proposal stating that testing for major league players be included as part of the joint drug program administered by the management’s Player Relations Committee and the Major League Baseball Players Assn.

“Part of being able to live in a democratic society is that a grown man can make his own decisions,” Hoyt said.

Royster seconded that.

“There are already too many restrictions on us,” he said. “To come in every two weeks and take a test is a little much for me.

“We get paid to do a job. If you do your job while high on something, then you do a job high on something. You’ve got to be able to live your own lives.

“Besides, only seven or eight out of who knows how many have had troubles . . . Guys like Alan Wiggins have something a lot deeper going on.”

Royster added he would not object to having all the players take one drug test in the spring. But that would be it.

Kennedy said he did not know the particulars of Ueberroth’s statement, and that he would talk to the players union office in New York on Thursday.

While mandatory drug testing of major league players is subject to approval of the players’ union, Ueberroth said Tuesday that mandatory drug testing will be held for all baseball personnel.

That includes minor league players and major league front office personnel.

The Padres have conducted mandatory drug tests for their minor leaguers twice a year for the past three years, according to Tom Romenesko, the Padres’ director of the minor leagues.

How do managers feel about being tested?

“I think it’s good, and I’d be the first one to stand in line,” Pirate Manager Chuck Tanner said. “Anything that’s good for the game of baseball is the proper thing to do.”

Does Tanner believe his players should also be tested?

“If he (Ueberroth) says the players have to do it, I’m all for it.”

Drugs is a particularly sensitive subject in the dugouts of the teams playing on Wednesday night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The Padres are still adjusting to life without Alan Wiggins, who is in an undisclosed drug treatment center.

And a wire service story reported that Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News said a federal grand jury is investigating cocaine sales in Pittsburgh “to more than a dozen major league players from that many teams.”

The report also said, “Sources say drug purchases were arranged inside the clubhouse of the Pirates.”

Tanner shook his head when asked about that.

“Someone sure had magic eyes,” he said, “because for the past two years, no one comes in our clubhouse except players and the media.”

Said Madlock: “It’s tougher for our team than any other team because it seems like what they’re saying is that what’s going on in the National League started in Pittsburgh. That’s unfair to our team and our organization.”